Interventions for Posttraumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents Following Natural Disasters and Acts of Terrorism

Abstract

(from the chapter) It is critical to understand how disasters and terrorist attacks affect children and how they cope with and recover from such events. Developing interventions for children's reactions to natural disasters and acts of terrorism and preventing serious, persistent adjustment problems in their aftermath have become challenging and important mental health concerns. The goal of this chapter is to review evidence-based approaches to treating children following these kinds of traumatic events. To set the stage for this review, the first chapter section describes the symptoms and prevalence of PTSD in children following disasters and acts of terrorism as well as other trauma-related reactions. The second section briefly describes risk factors for posttraumatic stress reactions. The third section reviews the current state of intervention research. The chapter ends with a summary of best practices for delivering interventions in the aftermath of disasters/terrorism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).